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Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations
Background: COVID-19 prevention and mitigation efforts were abrupt and challenging for most countries with the protracted lockdown straining socioeconomic activities. Marginalized groups and individuals are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of the pandemic such as human rights abuses and vi...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7820171/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33488426 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.603875 |
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author | Rahman, Muhammad Ahmed, Rabab Moitra, Modhurima Damschroder, Laura Brownson, Ross Chorpita, Bruce Idele, Priscilla Gohar, Fatima Huang, Keng Yen Saxena, Shekhar Lai, Joanna Peterson, Stefan Swartling Harper, Gary McKay, Mary Amugune, Beatrice Esho, Tammary Ronen, Keshet Othieno, Caleb Kumar, Manasi |
author_facet | Rahman, Muhammad Ahmed, Rabab Moitra, Modhurima Damschroder, Laura Brownson, Ross Chorpita, Bruce Idele, Priscilla Gohar, Fatima Huang, Keng Yen Saxena, Shekhar Lai, Joanna Peterson, Stefan Swartling Harper, Gary McKay, Mary Amugune, Beatrice Esho, Tammary Ronen, Keshet Othieno, Caleb Kumar, Manasi |
author_sort | Rahman, Muhammad |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background: COVID-19 prevention and mitigation efforts were abrupt and challenging for most countries with the protracted lockdown straining socioeconomic activities. Marginalized groups and individuals are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of the pandemic such as human rights abuses and violations which can lead to psychological distress. In this review, we focus on mental distress and disturbances that have emanated due to human rights restrictions and violations amidst the pandemic. We underscore how mental health is both directly impacted by the force of pandemic and by prevention and mitigation structures put in place to combat the disease. Methods: We conducted a review of relevant studies examining human rights violations in COVID-19 response, with a focus on vulnerable populations, and its association with mental health and psychological well-being. We searched PubMed and Embase databases for studies between December 2019 to July 2020. Three reviewers evaluated the eligibility criteria and extracted data. Results: Twenty-four studies were included in the systematic inquiry reporting on distress due to human rights violations. Unanimously, the studies found vulnerable populations to be at a high risk for mental distress. Limited mobility rights disproportionately harmed psychiatric patients, low-income individuals, and minorities who were at higher risk for self-harm and worsening mental health. Healthcare workers suffered negative mental health consequences due to stigma and lack of personal protective equipment and stigma. Other vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and refugees also experienced negative consequences. Conclusions: This review emphasizes the need to uphold human rights and address long term mental health needs of populations that have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic. Countries can embed a proactive psychosocial response to medical management as well as in existing prevention strategies. International human rights guidelines are useful in this direction but an emphasis should be placed on strengthening rights informed psychosocial response with specific strategies to enhance mental health in the long-term. We underscore that various fundamental human rights are interdependent and therefore undermining one leads to a poor impact on the others. We strongly recommend global efforts toward focusing both on minimizing fatalities, protecting human rights, and promoting long term mental well-being. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7820171 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78201712021-01-23 Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations Rahman, Muhammad Ahmed, Rabab Moitra, Modhurima Damschroder, Laura Brownson, Ross Chorpita, Bruce Idele, Priscilla Gohar, Fatima Huang, Keng Yen Saxena, Shekhar Lai, Joanna Peterson, Stefan Swartling Harper, Gary McKay, Mary Amugune, Beatrice Esho, Tammary Ronen, Keshet Othieno, Caleb Kumar, Manasi Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Background: COVID-19 prevention and mitigation efforts were abrupt and challenging for most countries with the protracted lockdown straining socioeconomic activities. Marginalized groups and individuals are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of the pandemic such as human rights abuses and violations which can lead to psychological distress. In this review, we focus on mental distress and disturbances that have emanated due to human rights restrictions and violations amidst the pandemic. We underscore how mental health is both directly impacted by the force of pandemic and by prevention and mitigation structures put in place to combat the disease. Methods: We conducted a review of relevant studies examining human rights violations in COVID-19 response, with a focus on vulnerable populations, and its association with mental health and psychological well-being. We searched PubMed and Embase databases for studies between December 2019 to July 2020. Three reviewers evaluated the eligibility criteria and extracted data. Results: Twenty-four studies were included in the systematic inquiry reporting on distress due to human rights violations. Unanimously, the studies found vulnerable populations to be at a high risk for mental distress. Limited mobility rights disproportionately harmed psychiatric patients, low-income individuals, and minorities who were at higher risk for self-harm and worsening mental health. Healthcare workers suffered negative mental health consequences due to stigma and lack of personal protective equipment and stigma. Other vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and refugees also experienced negative consequences. Conclusions: This review emphasizes the need to uphold human rights and address long term mental health needs of populations that have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic. Countries can embed a proactive psychosocial response to medical management as well as in existing prevention strategies. International human rights guidelines are useful in this direction but an emphasis should be placed on strengthening rights informed psychosocial response with specific strategies to enhance mental health in the long-term. We underscore that various fundamental human rights are interdependent and therefore undermining one leads to a poor impact on the others. We strongly recommend global efforts toward focusing both on minimizing fatalities, protecting human rights, and promoting long term mental well-being. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-01-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7820171/ /pubmed/33488426 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.603875 Text en Copyright © 2021 Rahman, Ahmed, Moitra, Damschroder, Brownson, Chorpita, Idele, Gohar, Huang, Saxena, Lai, Peterson, Harper, McKay, Amugune, Esho, Ronen, Othieno and Kumar. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychiatry Rahman, Muhammad Ahmed, Rabab Moitra, Modhurima Damschroder, Laura Brownson, Ross Chorpita, Bruce Idele, Priscilla Gohar, Fatima Huang, Keng Yen Saxena, Shekhar Lai, Joanna Peterson, Stefan Swartling Harper, Gary McKay, Mary Amugune, Beatrice Esho, Tammary Ronen, Keshet Othieno, Caleb Kumar, Manasi Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations |
title | Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations |
title_full | Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations |
title_fullStr | Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations |
title_full_unstemmed | Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations |
title_short | Mental Distress and Human Rights Violations During COVID-19: A Rapid Review of the Evidence Informing Rights, Mental Health Needs, and Public Policy Around Vulnerable Populations |
title_sort | mental distress and human rights violations during covid-19: a rapid review of the evidence informing rights, mental health needs, and public policy around vulnerable populations |
topic | Psychiatry |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7820171/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33488426 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.603875 |
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